Poetic Lectio

For some time, I have wondered whether the discipline of Lectio Divina might be applied to poetry. This may seem heretical, but consider: both poetry and religion use the language of metaphor. Religious texts of all the world's religions use this language. From the Tao de Ching to the Koran to the King James Bible — the metaphorical language of poetry sings through.

In his appreciation of the poetry of Lorine Niedecker (Rosebud, Issue 28, 2003, pg. 120) John Lehman writes that we look to poetry "for inspiration and consolation and expression of our feelings. Poems do this through extensive use of metaphor." Wouldn't we say the same of religious texts? Lehman goes on to suggest that we devote twice as much time to reading a poem as we do prose because "we give each line of poetry more 'weight' and each word of its line more significance than we do . . . words of prose." I believe this would apply to our religious language, as well.

Lehman then gives us some direction on "How to Make a Poem [Our] Own":

1. Read it aloud. Don't worry about meaning or vocal interpretation. Just read, three or four times through. Let the words reverberate through your body
2. Don't get bogged down in the rhythm or rhyme of a specific line in a poem
1. note line breaks
2. note syllabic stresses within a line — what feelings do those stresses suggest?
3. Note words at beginning of lines
4. Be sensitive to rhyme and hints of rhyme
5. When reading aloud, emphasize verbs and interpret verbs with more exageration than normal
6. Identify the poem's images — be sensitive to ways the poem may appeal to all "the senses five".

So, applying both Mr. Lehman's suggestions, and the classic guidance of the Lectio Divina, I would suggest this manner of reading a poem:

1. Read the poem, as suggested by Lehman. Read it out loud several times. Make a mental note of turns of phrase, or images which especially strike you
2. Meditate on those words, phrases, and images. Don't try to intellectually interpret, just hear the words, picture the images, breath the rhythm of the lines in & out.
3. Respond. Now, write something which plays out those words, phrases, etc. Don't worry if what you write is better or worse than the original work. And, once again, don't try to interpret the original poem as a professor would. Rather, allow those words, images, and so on, to lead you to a place which may (or may not) be very foreign to the original work.
4. Contemplate the conversation between your creation and the original. How do they intersect? How do they diverge?

Well, I did this to an extent in writing my responses to L.C. Bolivia postcard poems. However, it seems a worthy experiment for me to try more intentionally in the near future. Stay tuned.

"How to Make a Poem Your Own: An Appreciation of the Poetry of Lorine Niedecker" appears in Issue 28 of Rosebud, a quarterly literary magazine.